The fair place to meet is Oklahoma City, OK — the city closest to the midpoint of Richmond and San Diego. From the farther side that’s about 23 hr 52 min of driving.
Recommended midpoint
Oklahoma City, OK
From Richmond
23 hr 32 min
1,122 mi to Oklahoma City
From San Diego
23 hr 52 min
1,138 mi to Oklahoma City
That’s an even split — both sides drive within 20 min of each other. Richmond and San Diego are about 2,253 miles apart.
Richmond and San Diego are about 2,253 miles apart by road. Split the difference and you arrive near Oklahoma City, the city closest to the halfway point between them. That splits the trip almost evenly — about 23 hr 32 min from Richmond and 23 hr 52 min from San Diego.
Over this distance most people will fly rather than drive the whole way. Oklahoma City still makes a fair, central place for Richmond and San Diego to converge, splitting the travel instead of asking one side to cross the country.
If Oklahoma City doesn't have what you're after, Dallas and Kansas City are also close to the midpoint and worth a look — each keeps the drive reasonably balanced between Richmond and San Diego.
Oklahoma City, often shortened to OKC, is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the 21st-most populous U.S. city and 8th largest in the Southern United States, with a population of 681,054 at the 2020 census. Read more →
Richmond is the capital city of the U.S. state of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city since 1871. It is the fourth-most populous city in Virginia, with a population of 226,610 at the 2020 census. Read more →
San Diego is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. It is the eighth-most populous city in the U.S. Read more →
City descriptions adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA); photos via Wikimedia Commons, credited above.
Estimates use straight-line distance and typical road speeds; real drive times vary with route and traffic.